Cole was a salaried war artist and travelled as an honorary captain in the Marines. He considered his war experience the most significant of his life. This portrait was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee and painted on Malta in 1943. There, in very bad conditions after the long siege, Cole won the approval of the Governor, Lord Gort, who was a difficult man.

Ingleby-Mackenzie served during the war in HM ships ‘Royal Sovereign’ and ‘Hood’ and was medical officer in charge of the hospital ship ‘Vita’ at the landings in Sicily and Italy. The portrait is signed and dated ‘Leslie Cole 43 Malta’. After the war Cole taught at the Central School and at Brighton School of Art.